Congress formulates plan to take on BJP’s ‘slanderous’ campaign

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, December 4

The Uttarakhand Congress has decided to counter the “disinformation” campaign launched by the BJP against the government. Central BJP leaders and Union government ministers had been campaigning extensively in the state ahead of the Assembly elections.

The policy planning cell of the Congress would lauch an elaborate campaign to blunt the onslaught of the BJP and educate people at the grass-roots level about the achievements of the state government.

Suryakant Dhasmana, senior vice-president and chairman of the policy planning cell of the Congress, stated this while addressing mediapersons here yesterday. He said, “The BJP has embarked upon a malicious campaign of slander and misinformation against the government.”

He alleged that the Central government ministers were touring the state and trying to defame the state government. The party policy planning cell would train the grass-roots party workers in both Garhwal and Kumaon to counter the “slanderous campaign” of the BJP.

After the training of block-level workers, two regional-level workshops would be held in both regions for office-bearers and party spokespersons. The dates of these programmes would be announced in consultation with party president Kishore Upadhyay, he said.

Dhasmana said the BJP had launched a negative campaign but the Congress would highlight the achievements of the government. He asked BJP leaders to explain the contribution of the Narendra Modi government to the reconstruction of Kedarnath, which he had claimed before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, or anything else that he (Modi) had done for Uttarakhand during his two-and-half-years’ rule.

Dhasmana added the BJP won all five Lok Sabha seats in the state but the NDA government still did nothing for Uttarakhand. Instead the Central government tried to hinder development by curtailing Central grants.

The Congress would highlight the failure of the demonetisation move, which has put common people in trouble while black money hoarders were going scot free. The common people in Uttarakhand would punish the BJP for its failure on all fronts, he added.